HUGH JONES

Real Name: Hugh Jones

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Former oil executive

Group Membership: Former President and C.E.O. of Roxxon Energy Corporation, former President of Republic Oil and Natural Gas

Affiliations: Former ally of Earth-712's Serpent Cartel, briefly controlled Earth-712's Squadron Supreme, oversaw creation of and employed Roxxon's Serpent Squad (Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder, Sidewinder), Bushmaster (Quincy McIver), Orka

Enemies: Avengers (Beast/Henry McCoy, Captain America/Nomad/Steve Rogers, Hellcat/Patsy Walker, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Moondragon/Heather Douglas, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Thor/Odinson, Vision), Warlord Krang, Stingray, Thing;
Serpent Squad (Cobra, Eel, Princess Python, Viper)

Known Relatives: J.T. Jones (father), wife (name unrevealed)

Aliases: HJ

Base of Operations: One Roxxon Plaza, NYC; Brand Corporation, Jamaica, Queens, NYC

First Appearance: Captain America I#180 (December, 1974)

Powers/Abilities: Hugh Jones was a normal human being. He was an experienced oil executive, and while President of Roxxon, he had full access to the technological capabilities of the company.

When wearing the Serpent Crown, he had access to all the powers the Crown offered him. Although he is currently institutionalized and has not worn the Crown in years, it is possible he still possesses a mental link to it.

Height: Unrevealed (6'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Web of Spider-Man Annual I#5/4 (fb)) - Hugh Jones' "daddy" was a Texan who built his first big oil strike into a major company.

(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#9) - Hugh's father J.T. Jones built his company, Republic Oil and Natural Gas, into a valuable corporation, and upon his death, control of the company passed to his son Hugh. Whether under J.T. or Hugh, at some point Republic purchased Roxxon Oil.

(Iron Man: The Iron Age#1 (fb)) - With Hugh's awareness and approval, Republic Oil's Simon Krieger arranged the death of Maria and Howard Stark.

(Iron Man: The Iron Age#1-2) - Republic Oil--headed by President Hugh Jones and executives Simon Krieger, John T. Gamelin, and Jonas Hale--attempted a takeover of Stark Industries, both through surreptitious purchases of Stark stock, and the use of superhuman agents Saboteur and the Dogs of War against Stark. Following Krieger's arrest, Jones had him killed in jail. To help separate the company from Krieger, the executives of Republic Oil oversaw the change of the company to a new corporate identity: Roxxon Energy Corporation (also known as Roxxon Oil).

(Web of Spider-Man Annual I#5/4 (fb)) - An ex-lover tried to shoot Hugh Jones, but either missed or merely wounded him -- the same attempt on the Squadron Supreme's world (Earth-S/Earth-712) resulted in the death of that world's Hugh Jones.

(Captain America I#180) - With his wife, Hugh attended the world premiere of a Captain America movie at the Strand Theater in Washington, D.C.; but Jones was kidnapped by the Serpent Squad (Viper [the former Madame Hydra], Eel, Cobra, and Princess Python) and taken to their hideout.

(Captain America I#181) - Viper's ally, the Atlantean Warlord Krang, placed the Serpent Crown on the captive Jones' head. Under the Crown's control, Jones issued a radio address ordering all Roxxon employees to cooperate with the Serpent Squad's demands. The Squad transported Jones to a central Pacific Ocean oil drilling platform, where Jones followed Krang's instructions and began pumping water underneath sunken Lemuria, apparently for the purpose of raising the sunken continent. When Nomad and the Sub-Mariner intervened, Krang reclaimed the Crown from Jones and threw it to Viper, and she fled with Cobra in their aircraft. Freed from the Crown's mesmerizing influence, Jones reversed the process which was raising Lemuria.

(Web of Spider-Man Annual I#5/4 (fb)) - But Jones voluntarily maintained a mental link with the Elder God Set in the Crown's absence. Set informed Jones that Nomad was really Captain America. Still in mental communion with the Serpent Crown, Jones sent one of his employees to retrieve it (...after the Serpent Crown had fallen into a sewer [@ Captain America I#182]).

(Captain America I#185) - Jones informed Captain America of the location of the Red Skull (whom Captain America was hunting), claiming that this paid his debt for Nomad's rescue of him from the Serpent Squad.

(Marvel Two-in-One I#66 (fb)) - With the Crown returned to him, Jones placed it upon his head and willed it to become invisible.

(Web of Spider-Man Annual I#5/4 (fb)) - Using Set's power, Jones made psychic contact and allied with the Serpent Cartel, a group of businessmen on Earth-712 who were acolytes of Set.

(Avengers I#141) - Following Roxxon's purchase of the Brand Corporation, Jones was at the Brand facility in Jamaica, Queens, NYC when the Avengers broke in to investigate Roxxon's activities. Using an interdimensional transporter, Jones transported the Squadron Supreme to Earth-616, where they captured the Avengers.

(Avengers I#142) - Jones oversaw the Avengers imprisonment.

(Avengers I#144) - Following the Avengers' escape, Jones launched experimental Brand/Roxxon weaponry against them, and again sent the Squadron Supreme to battle them. When the police came to investigate the public disturbance at Brand, Jones activated the interdimensional transporter, sending both the Avengers and the Squadron to the Squadron's world.

(Avengers I#147) - After deceiving and dismissing police investigators, Jones psychically communed with the wearer of Earth-712's Serpent Crown -- that world's U.S. President Nelson Rockefeller.

(Avengers I#149) - When the Avengers again invaded the Brand plant, Rockefeller again psychically communed with Jones, informing Jones that the Avengers had overthrown him. Jones sent the Brand-mutated Orka against the Avengers and defeated them, but Thor and Moondragon arrived and defeated Orka. Jones ordered the execution of the other Avengers, but they'd escaped in the meantime, and Jones was captured.

(Marvel Two-in-One I#66 (fb)) - Using Brand and Roxxon facilities, Jones fashioned his own super-powered agents as a new Serpent Squad; he then sent them to retrieve the second Serpent Crown (the one which the Avengers had brought from the Squadron Supreme's world [@ Avengers I#149], and the Vision later dropped into the Pacific Ocean [@ Avengers I#154]).

(Marvel Two-in-One I#66) - Hugh Jones was given Earth-712's Serpent Crown by Sidewinder, who had retrieved it while in Jones' employ. Merging the two Crowns together, Jones acquired a scaly appearance while he wore them; he used his newly heightened powers to assume complete control over the residents of Washington D.C., for the purpose of placing them under Set's control. Jones allowed the Thing, Stingray, and Scarlet Witch to enter unopposed so he could assume control over them, and then created versions of the Crown's recent former wearers to oppose the threesome. Simultaneously fighting both the Scarlet Witch mentally and the Thing physically, Jones was surprised when the Witch unexpectedly capitulated, and the Thing took advantage of Jones' momentary disorientation to wrench the Serpent Crown from Jones' head.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#11) - Following his traumatic separation from the Crown, Jones was driven insane and was hospitalized. He was replaced as President of Roxxon by Vice President of Foreign Operations John T. Gamelin, who would in turn subsequently be succeeded by other men.

Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema, and Vince Colletta.

Hugh Jones was undoubtedly involved in many of Roxxon's other legal and illegal activities during this time, but we've only listed here those where a direct connection has been demonstrated.

New and additional images by Ron Fredricks plus a few corrections.

Profile by SQUEAK

CLARIFICATIONS:
Hugh Jones has no known connections to:

Mrs. Jones

One night, she (first name unrevealed) and her husband Hugh Jones attended the world premiere of a Captain America movie at the Strand Theater in Washington, D.C.

When Hugh was kidnapped by the Serpent Squad, she screamed for help; although the "new" hero Nomad (Steve Rogers, formerly Captain America) responded to her cries, he ended up tripping over his own cape, and her husband was still abducted by the villains.

(Comment: This one panel was the extent of her appearance, and she was never seen again -- it's possible she left Hugh after the Serpent Crown had corrupted his personality so much that she felt he was no longer the same man she married.)

--Captain America I#180

images: (without ads)
Marvel Two-in-One I#66, cover (main image - Hugh Jones, using power of Serpent Crown against Thing and Scarlet Witch)
Iron Man: The Iron Age#2, p46, pan3 (headshot - Hugh Jones)
Captain America I#181, p13, pan3 (mesmerized Hugh Jones wearing Serpent Crown, following Krang's commands)
Marvel Two-in-One I#66, p10, pa2 (Hugh Jones with scaly skin)
Captain America I#180, p13, pan4 (Mrs. Jones reacts as Serpent Squad kidnaps her husband)

Appearances:
Captain America I#180-181 (December, 1974-January, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain America I#185 (May, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Sal Buscema & Frank Robbins (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Len Wein (editor)
Avengers I#141-142 (November-December, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Avengers I#144 (February, 1976) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Avengers I#147 (May, 1976) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Avengers I#149 (July 1976) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Two-in-One I#66 (August, 1980) - Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio & Steven Grant (writers), Jerry Bingham (pencils), Gene Day (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#11 (October, 1986)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#5 (1989) - Peter Sanderson (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Iron Man: The Iron Age#1-2 (August-September, 1998) - Kurt Busiek & Richard Howell (#2) (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Bob McLeod (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#9 (September, 2006)

First posted: 03/26/2007
Last updated: 06/09/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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